Biden Was Wrong, Obama Will Be Tested Constantly

Blame Joe Biden. His warning last fall that "it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama" with "an international crisis" has spawned a cottage industry of premature declarations.

Calls of "this is it" have greeted every development in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran. Lately it's been the Somali pirates' turn to be labeled the test.

By the veep's standards, each incident qualified as the Big One. Except, of course, none was. Each faded and was replaced by a fresh crisis that, briefly, laid claim to fulfilling Biden's prophecy. The problem is that Biden had it wrong. There isn't going to be just one international test of Obama's mettle. There will be a string of them until friend and foe alike gauge where Obama is willing to draw a line and defend it.

Some crises will be the inevitable clash of interests, but most will be a deliberate decision to probe the uncertainty about Obama's ultimate objectives and stomach for risk. It's an uncertainty Obama has helped to foster.